Saturday 30 May 2009

Australian Chess Brilliancies

"Australian Chess Brilliancies" is a new release from Kevin Casey, covering some of the most brilliant games of chess played by Australian players. The book contains 29 well annotated games, from Sztern v Purdy 1974 to Mijatovic v West, played earlier this year. The leading lights of Australian chess over the last 35 years are well represented, and in the introduction to each game, Casey provides a brief biography of the players involved.
As an added bonus, Casey provides his own thoughts on what constitutes a 'brilliancy', demonstrating examples from his own games (an authors prerogative I guess), as well as two excellent games from that (non-Australian) master tactician, Rashid Nezhmetdinov. Adding to the historical features of the book, Casey also includes a list Australian Championship title holders (including the Australian Open and Junior events).
I found the book both entertaining and informative, and would recommend it as an addition to anyone's chess library. At $19.95 (plus $3.00 postage in Australia) it is also an affordable work, either as a gift for the chess play in your family, or as a present for yourself. Australian Chess Brilliancies can be ordered directly from the publisher Kimberly Publications PO Box 6095 Upper Mount Gravatt Qld 4122 Australia

(** I was provided with a complimentary copy of the book for this review by the author **)

Here is the most recent game in the collection, a brilliancy played by Guy West in the 2009 Melbourne Club Championship. However if you wish to see the annotated version, then you need to buy the book!

Mijatovic,B v West,G
2009 Melbourne Club Championship

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nxd5 4.Bc4 Nb6 5.Bb3 Nc6 6.Nf3 a5 7.a3 a4 8.Ba2 Bf5 9.d4 e6 10.Be3 Be7 11.Qd2 0-0 12.0-0-0 Nd5 13.Bc4 Na5 14.Bb5 c6 15.Be2 b5 16.Na2 (D)
16. ... Nb3+ 17.cxb3 axb3 18.Nc3 Rxa3 19.Bd3 Ra1+ 20.Nb1 Nb4 21.Qe2 Rxb1+ 22.Kxb1 Qa5 23.Bxf5 Ra8 24.Kc1 Na2+ 25.Kb1 Nc3+ 26.bxc3 Qa1# 0-1

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